DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tony Stewart is a happy guy. He has had a good week as both a driver and a car owner.

His Stewart-Haas Racing car is good, better than his starting spot of 13th for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Teammate Danica Patrick is on the pole. And teammate Ryan Newman, who spun and damaged his car during the qualifying races Thursday, is happy with his backup car.

And maybe even on a brighter note, gone is the tandem style of drafting at Daytona that Stewart and other drivers loathed. The new 2013 Cup bodies, coupled with new NASCAR rules, have virtually eliminated the two-car draft in Cup.

“I love actually being able to see through the car in front of me and see what’s going on and not just being crammed up the bumper of the guy in front of you and staring at their bumper and trying to make sure you’re in the right spot to get an opening of air,” Stewart said.

“It’s a lot more fun, at least from my standpoint as a driver. I like it a lot better than the tandem style that we had. You’ll never hurt my feelings if I never have to physically push another car again in the Cup Series the rest of my life.”

Stewart will have to tandem draft in the Nationwide Series race Saturday as he looks for his seventh victory in his last nine season-opening Nationwide events.

But he won’t have to worry about it in the Daytona 500.

Even an afternoon of tandem drafting likely can’t sour Stewart’s week. He can smile when he looks at his team’s performance during the opening week of the 2013 season. While Patrick won the pole, Stewart was fourth and Newman fifth in qualifying last Sunday.

“Sunday was a dream for a car owner to have your three cars in the top-five spots on the grid,” Stewart said. “Danica and I got through unscathed. Ryan had a problem yesterday (with a spin). We know what it was. We know what to do to solve it to keep that from happening again.

“He's in a backup car, and he seems to like his backup car so far.”

Stewart also announced another bit of good news Friday as he will have primary sponsorship for three races from Rush Truck Centers. Stewart, which has primary sponsorship from Mobil 1 and Bass Pro Shops for the majority of the year, still has six races left unsponsored for 2013.

“As far as the 10 days that you are down here, it is kind of a mini season of it's own just getting through the 500,” Stewart said. “Up to this point, it's been really, really good. Obviously, being here today talking about a new sponsor for three races—that's been the icing on the cake so far."